Record 60 hours of TV

ReplayTV announced the availability of its latest ReplayTV unit that can store up to 60 hours of television. The new unit, the ReplayTV 3060, features a single Maxtor DiamondMax 60 GB hard disk and is selling for $799. In addition, if you order before October 1st you receive a $100 rebate.

The ReplayTV 3060 can be ordered directly from ReplayTV.com or by calling 877-REPLAYTV.

JOEL'S OPINION
It looks like ReplayTV finally decided to go with Maxtor for the biggest bang. This makes sense to me. After all, somehow Maxtor manages to produce large storage drives for much cheaper than its competitors.

Now that ReplayTV is playing with Maxtor imagine what the future storage size could be! By the way, this is 60 hours using just one drive. ReplayTV could instantly add another 60 hours of playing time just by adding an additional drive, not to mention that the latest version of the BIOS that I saw appears to support up to four drives.

I took a quick look at Maxtor's website and it seems that it's already up to 80 GB drives! I guess if you figure that we're directly translating 1 GB to 1 hour, there's a possibility that we'll soon see an 80 hour ReplayTV device using just one drive.

Now we'll have to see what ReplayTV's competitors do to counter this offer. You can bet that one of the hottest devices this holiday season will be a digital VCR.

USER COMMENTS 25 comment(s)

OK, who will be the first to hack it?(12:19pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)ReplayTV HDD format can't be the same as a PC, surely? So who's going to be the first to hack a ReplyTV unit to allow direct digital output to a PC in a format the PC can easily convert to AVI or MPEG format? – by Icesnake Frostfyre

Where is this going?(12:28pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)For those of us with multiple televisions, how about an ethernet port that allows transfer or pass-through of programming from one box to another?

Will these systems become available in the form of a PCI card? (You supply the storage)

Could televisions be equipped with an ethernet jack, recieving signal from an ethernet attached cable box/vcr/dvd?– by Ethernet guy

out of business soon enough(12:30pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)Just buy a video card that will do the same thing, ie ATI's Radeon All in Wonder due out soon. I am not sure if there are others out there as well?

That way you only pay for the hard drive space you need, and not these crazy extra costs. Things are only getting better on this front. Who needs DeCSS when you can rip DVD's though a capture card. Granted you'll probably lose some resolution but it'll still look better than a VCR copy.

Oh and the RIAA/MPAA can eat a dick. – by Not Enough Time

Re: Where is this going?(1:59pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)Yeah. These “systems” have been available as a PCI card for many, many years. They're called TV tuners. – by Ryan

Not Enough Time?(2:17pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)Hey Not Enought Time,

I would disagree with a video card in the computer being the same.. Yes it is the same in theory but not in operation. Personally my computer is doing so much other crap that to do video recording and playback all the time would be rediculously inconvienant. Yes it can be done but there is something to be said for a small little box that is optimized for it's task and isn't plagued with PC configuration nightmares. I really enjoy my Replay 2020 and like the idea that it does it's own thing with out me having to reboot, and more so that it's plug and play. Ofcourse you could build a PC that performed the function of a replay (DVR) but why? big ugly computer tower next to the entertainment center with a PC sized powersupply going all the time? you'd also have to supply internet connectivity to retrieve scheduling which seems like a project not a product.

I understand the coolness of achieving similar results to something that costs $500.00, “With my computer and my brain I can do the same thing for less!” and that may work fine for a lot of people. However I disagree with your belief that the computer/video card combo will distroy this emerging market. Atleast in this state of the Union.

It's like AOL we all love to hate the people that use it, the fact is it's name,availablity and convienance make it profitable. Therefore it is.

P.S. the RIAA can eat a dick too. – by Craig

How about trading time for more resolution?(4:39pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)I'm sure that is 60 hours at their lowest resolution which isn't any too good. I'd rather have less time and better resolution. – by Kevin

Visit the web site, Kevin(6:26pm EST Thu Sep 07 2000)You're right about the resolution – but Replay apparently does have higher-rez choices.– by Icesnake Frostfyre

TiVo already announced 60-hour unit(9:49am EST Fri Sep 08 2000)TiVo announced their 60-hour unit at least a month ago, and most likely it will hit the market before the ReplayTV unit. The only thing that's new with the Replay unit is that they'll be using a single hard drive rather than TiVo's 2-drive method. There hasn't been any advantages found for either drive config. I recently turned my 30-hour TiVo into a 108-hour TiVo simply by adding a 60G Maxtor drive. Others have used 75G IBM drives successfully as well. The upgrade is beyond simple, if you can add a hard drive to your PC, you can do the upgrade. And to answer one of the above questions, both ReplayTV and TiVo units allow you to use different recording levels. The hours advertised on the box are at the highest compression level, the lower the compression, the better the picture but the less time you have available. TiVo has 4 different compression levels (basic, medium, high, best). I use Medium with my DirecTV feed and am very happy with it, and my unit can hold 66 hours at Medium compression. – by DaveS

But…(2:28pm EST Fri Sep 08 2000)Will it play Quake??

(Sorry, had to do it…)

Seriously, when will you have time to WATCH all that television?? There's only so much Star Trek that we can all watch, right? (Well, maybe bad example.) – by Lemonhead

Copy protection(1:43pm EST Mon Sep 18 2000)Before you invest in anything to allow playback, get educated in the copy protection being incorporated into all things digital. I've been told the Sony units wont record anything that's copyprotected, Realtv records but reimposes the copyprotection on the output. When tv goes digital and programs and movies are all copy protected, tese “recording” devices will become highly decorative pieces to blend in with the rest of your furnitureunless you want digital “Leave it to Beaver” and “I love Lucy”. – by Wait N C

Anyone know of a “Tivo like” recorder with a PC interface?(3:46pm EST Mon Apr 16 2001)Would be nice to see a digital TV recorder like Tivo or the rest that will output the video to your PC. Maybe utilizing a ethernet, USB, fire wire, or even a slow serial cable for out put. Seems odd to buy a “Tivo” system to record video digitally AND a video capture card. A system like this would allow someone to pause live TV, record it, as well as transfer analog VCR video to your PC for editing. Then rip a DVD or VCD. If anyone knows of such a system email me thanks. – by Zorfox

replay hack(9:18am EST Mon May 14 2001)Has anyone come across a hack for adding a second hard drive to Replay boxes? I have the 60 hr , looking for MORE–BIGGER—-POWER!!!!!!! – by Bob

Replay Hack(2:53am EST Wed Jun 13 2001)Any information on getting the video's onto a pc? tivo was just exploited last week on slashdot with a dvr to pc hack. it shouldnt be long now for replay

cbrpunk@home.com – by cbrpunk

Copyprotect = BSOD(5:23pm EST Tue Nov 13 2001)Tried watching a blockbuster VHS video through the replay unit. Previews were fine. As soon as the movie started, a blue screen popped up – “this program is copy protected, and cannot be view through ReplayTV”… – by Eric

Replay TV/Directv Interface(1:47pm EST Wed Nov 21 2001)I already have the Panasonic Show Stopper Replay TV. I am getting Directv but I am unsure as to how to interface the two. Nobody seems to know. – by Dave

Why not build yer own?(2:16pm EST Mon Dec 03 2001)There are alot of clever folks out there. Why not figure out how to make our own pvr out of whatever old box we have in the corner? Using Linux, of course. I can't believe it hasn't been done yet. – by TechnicolorYawn

Replay Hack(12:26am EST Tue Apr 09 2002)Has anyone come across a hack for adding a second hard drive to Replay

If any body knows of instructions for adding a larger HAD please email me santafemotors@hotmail.com – by MARIO

BTW the cuisine suggested for the RIAA/MPAA is much too good for them. They should have the same menu as flies. – by Gene-Machine

ReplayTV 'Show Stopper' HACK(3:38pm EST Fri Feb 14 2003)I have a 20 hour Show Stopper and have a number of drives that I could use. I need instructions on how to accomplish it. My friend has put a larger drive in his TIVO successfully so, I would like to do the same with mine…please do tell… skyking@sprynet.com

Thanks. – by RobertC

harddrive crashed(1:50am EST Wed Feb 26 2003)can anyone help me find the software for the panasonic replay my harddrive is crashed. also directions on doing this also thanks email me at dean1112@excite.com thanks again – by dean

directv(3:50pm EST Thu Apr 17 2003)i have a rca directv how do i connect it to my pc i want to record some stuff if there is a sight out there let me know – by ndogg